Book Excerpt: 'Supreme Conflict'

O'Connor's secretary called Ginsburg's chambers. "You're going to
get a letter from Justice O'Connor," she said. "You should open it
right away."

Ginsburg was stunned. Kennedy, upon getting the letter, walked
down the hall and gave O'Connor a hug. Clarence Thomas quickly
called his wife, Ginni, who worked at the conservative Heritage Foundation,
with the news. Minutes later, Thomas called back and asked his
wife to urge her Heritage colleagues -- frustrated by years of O'Connor
opinions -- not to say a negative word about her in the press.

Thomas, like the other justices, had grown fond of O'Connor. Depending
on the age of the justice, the pioneering O'Connor was invariably
described as a mother hen or a sister, the one who organized
their lunches and kept things moving along. Even as the Court took up
contentious issues that divided the justices as they divided the nation,
the justices remained collegial. They credited O'Connor for much of
that. They would miss her.

An hour later, one of the Court's Lincoln Town Car sedans whisked
Talkin down Pennsylvania Avenue and into the White House, where she
handed Miers the letter of resignation.

Before Talkin made it back to her office, Bush called the Court to
speak with O'Connor and thank her for her service. The two spoke
briefly. Bush invited her to the White House, but she declined. She had
a plane to catch.

"For an old ranching girl, you turned out pretty good," Bush told
O'Connor. "You're one of the great Americans."
O'Connor found herself overcome with emotion, and her voice
began to break.

"I wish I was there to hug you," Bush said.

Minutes later, O'Connor walked out of the courthouse with John at
her side and headed to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The era of the so-called O'Connor Court was over.

Bush now had his chance. The battle would be epic. A new justice
could provide the deciding vote on cases involving abortion, affirmative
action, and religion. But the stakes, if anything, were even higher.
O'Connor's retirement could change not only the Court's direction,
but its very role in American life. For the past fifty years, beginning
under the leadership of Earl Warren, the Court had confronted America's
most pressing social controversies. The Court showed little hesi-
tation in interjecting itself into those disputes and attempting to solve
the nation's most vexing problems from the bench, even if that meant
wresting them away from the state legislatures and the Congress.

In the 1950s, civil rights groups increasingly turned to the courts because
elected officials did little or nothing to stop pervasive and virulent
discrimination against African Americans. The Supreme Court
responded with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which dismantled
"separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites throughout America.
Segregation was outlawed by Brown, and only because the Warren
Court ignored critics and intervened.

But the Court did not stop there. It began to see itself as a vital protector
of rights and liberties, including those not specifically addressed
in the Constitution. It recognized greater rights for criminal defendants.
It imposed limits on religious expression. It identified new constitutional
rights to privacy. Its role in American society grew. It became
a moral compass.